Valérie Plante, "the man" for the mayor's job?

One of Projet Montréal mayoral candidate's recent ads calls her "l'homme de la situation". The controversy was deliberate. In French, expressions such as "J'vais mettre un homme là-dessus" don't really have a feminine equivalent.

I'll be voting for Plante, mainly because I prefer infrastructure investment to Coderre's government which is entirely focused on spectacle. I don't care about the 3 and 3/4 centennial celebration and it doesn't warrant a billion dollars of wasted money, I don't care about F1 and I don't care about the Expos and don't think the city should be spend at least half a billion on the new stadium that we'll never get back in "economic spinoffs".

A new metro line is expensive, but at least we'll get a new metro line out of it.

Thing is while I hope she'll win and will definitely be voting for her, I don't predict a win for her right now and I say this as a member of Projet. She knows she needs the suburbs to win, but the pink line won't be enough to do it. By Plante's own estimates the pink line would be done hopefully by the 400th anniversary in 2042, people don't vote based on what you'll do for them in 25 years. Its an excellent aspirational goal, but not a project to base a plank of your platform on.

If I were running as or advising a city council candidate for Projet where I live in Riviere des Prairies I would definitely emphasize the Pink line, but what is more important is emphasizing better bus service and road repairs. This is standard fare I understand, but the bus service remains terrible in RDP and the Union Montreal/Coderre people are very vulnerable on that file. Talk about specific bus lines that need more service (ie. 448 that runs after 9:45am for example) and suggest new express bus lines that connect RDP to metro stations that aren't Radisson, ideally one going to a blue line station and another to a orange line station.

Better bus routes are certainly needed, but they are utterly insufficient to diminish the traffic - and public transport - snarl. The orange line southbound is saturated by métro Jarry, since the extension to Laval. The extension was an excellent thing, but we need another route. I think a diagonal "pink" line is genius, ESPECIALLY for people in northeastern Montréal. Many do long commutes, especially recent immigrants without much money.

I also agree with bringing back trams, for example on avenue du Parc because the orange line is utterly saturated. There has been an important enhancement of the 55 St-Laurent bus; now it goes all the way from the Palais de justice in Old Montréal to Henri-Bourassa in the north end (Ahuntsic).

Unfortunately, RDP is an example of bad, sprawly planning that should never have been accepted in that form so recently. I think I've only been their once, giving a talk on immigration and labour history at the local library. Took me about 2 hours! Longer than it takes to get to Ottawa...

I have a couple of clients in Laval, and I can get there very quickly via the orange line, and I'm travelling against the rush. Friends teaching up there find it easier than getting downtown (from the Jean-Talon métro area).

Plante will do well in the parts of the city that the media and politicians care about, but she'll be absolutely trounced where the forgotten Montrealers live and as a result she'll lose (Coderre will win in the same was Rob Ford did in Toronto). I'm thinking that Coderre will lose seats in City Council and not have a majority and Projet will gain, but he'll stay mayor.

Apparently Jean Fortier who is running for Coalition Montreal will drop out of the race tomorrow and endorse Valerie Plante. The 5% that Fortier would've likely siphoned off could actually make the difference in the final result, so good on him. Good news for Projet Montreal.

Pietro, that is very strange, as Valérie Plante's pink line would benefit above all those northeastern former suburbs. I taught second languages to people at a business in Mtl-Nord and could see the painful commutes so many people (especially recent immigrant workers) had to do daily. Just one station east on the blue line would have made a huge difference to people in that area due to the connections at Pie-IX, but nothing has been done after 30 years. That could have also involved a major "urbanizing" effort in the area involving little Centre Boulevard, the Maxi, Winners and other businesses, with more housing and somewhat less area devoted to parking. The green line could also push to PAT in the southeast.

That entire opinion piece rests on a couple of interviews with some old people. I'm not saying it's wrong, but no evidence was offered. It ends with this:

But there may be an unexpected X factor that attracts even some stalwart Coderre supporters to Plante.

Back in Montreal North, Maryse Latour emerged from the kitchen of Alimentation des Caraïbes where she was preparing Haitian food for a hot lunch buffet. Even though she likes Coderre and thinks he’s doing “a pretty good job,” she doesn’t plan to vote for him this time.

“I’m voting for the girl,” said Latour, 69, with a wry smile. “I want to give a girl a turn.

“The vision of a woman is not the same as the vision of a man. … I don’t know what she’s going to bring, but I’m willing to give her a shot.”

A lot of people are sick of the corruption and all the mayors going to jail. Coderre is not transparent. There is no evidence that he has cleaned up city hall. It is quite possible that people will vote for change.

The 2015 numbers don't mean much because Luc Ferrandez was running. Valerie Plante is very different and another 4 years have past. I think Coderre will win but I think it will be with much lower numbers and it is possible for Plante to win.

Ferrandez was demonised because he was the first to push through traffic-calming and initiatives in favour of cycling, walking and public transport. He also made a few absolutely stupid mistakes such as cutting back on snow clearance - you can't have a pedestrian-friendly city in a northern climate without good snow clearance. Projet Montréal has done pretty much the same in my borough (just northeast of the Plateau) and has not made the stupid snow clearance error.

He has done a lot of very good things in terms of greening and promoting small local businesses. The horrible errors in road upgrading on St-Laurent, Parc and St-Denis were caused by the city centre, not a borough.

I went to the english language debate and based on what I saw from the audience response Plante won. And that final question Coderre asked about BDS was disgusting and in no way revelant to the job, it reminded me of US debates "do you support Israel", well neither are running for prime minister which is a job that deals with foreign affairs so who the hell cares. He was clearly pandering to anglos who he seems to think are all Jewish.

Wow, there was just a poll after the english debate and Projet Montrel is now tied with Coderre. She gained in all demographics, but the biggest jump was among anglos. That debate had a huge effect. As well, a sleeper effect that I've seen myself and heard from anglophones in my community. The Projet Montreal flyers that were sent to my house were fully bilingual, word for word with no predominance for french, the Coderre flyers were french only with not a word of english. I've heard 4 anglos in my personal circle comment on that, even I noticed it when I got it in the mail because its striking to see english on a political flyer (or at least it is in RDP which is not really english, maybe its more common in the west island.)

- Still 21% undecided (though I assume that if you're not decided by now you're probably not voting.)

- All the momentum is behind Plante, so I now think she'll win (she gained 9%, he lost 5%)

- Among francophones she's still losing by 3, its the anglo/allo vote that is putting her in a tie (I would've thought it would be the opposite as people general think anglos are more conservative, these results show the opposite, which exposes that the anglo vote provincially has nothing to do with left right, it has to do with sovereigntist/federalist.)

- Projet gained 11% after the english debate and coderre lost 3% (she made her gains mostly among those who were supporting Coalition Montreal, which was higher among anglos.)

- Finally most shocking, Projet is doing worst among the youngest Montrealers and best among the oldest, I would've thought it would be the opposite. That's a strange result though good electorally for projet.

In anycase Plante has my vote 100% and it'll be an interesting election night.

Thanks for your input on this. I have not seen much on social housing from any of the campaigns, which is a great disappointment. My leftish Anglo friends are all going with Plante. I think the pink line is a Coderre-style expensive boondoggle. I'd rather see the blue line extended both ways so the East End and the low-paid workers who have to go out to the factories and warehouses in Ville St. Laurent don't have to suffer the Cremazie bus. Still, I think Plante is the lesser of evils even though her platform seems to have very little for the working class and poor. The money they plan to spend on the pink line could build over 20,000 social housing units.

The blue line extension is a good idea, which is why it's been reannounced every four years for the past three decades, but for those workers along it who are commuting downtown, they still have to transfer to the orange line, which is saturated. That's why I think the pink line is worthwhile (though I wish they'd keep it all-underground, even in Lachine, so they don't need to order different trains than the new ones they've already spent years and millions on). A northwestern extension of the yellow line along Sherbrooke/Docteur-Penfield would be a good idea, too.

As far as "This money could build x units of social housing", that applies to everything in the city budget. Personally, I'd prefer to get social housing money by cutting funding for Formula E, lighting up the bridge, granite tree stumps, and all of Coderre's other vanity projects. Oh, and corruption. That's a budget item we can do without.

I think we do need some kind of relief for the orange line, which is saturated. Tramlines along streets parallel to the orange line would be a cheaper solution though. And it is important to end the isolation of areas such as Montréal-Nord. One problem, as stated above, is that many workers in Mtl-Nord DO NOT work downtown, but in industral areas that tend to be in the north of the city. Reducing the need for a car is a major boon for poor workers, but it can't be centred only on travel to the city-centre business districts.

Transport is necessary for cities and their population, and Mtl hasn't increased the métro system coverage within the city for over 30 years.

I had the misfortune of being in Brossard one day, and I was dropped off after my seriously underpaid day of work at a place called Panama. There is a very fast bus out of there which goes straight into Bonaventure. Panama is very busy and seems to be a hub for Brossard Transit, or whatever it is called. Maybe the yellow line could go there?

And it is important to end the isolation of areas such as Montréal-Nord. One problem, as stated above, is that many workers in Mtl-Nord DO NOT work downtown, but in industral areas that tend to be in the north of the city. Reducing the need for a car is a major boon for poor workers, but it can't be centred only on travel to the city-centre business districts.

Another good option for increasing service to the north and east end would be resurrecting the Pie-IX metro line (I know they're planning bus rapid transit to start in 2022 -- another traditional example of Montréal's transit vaporware -- which could eventually be upgraded to a surface tram).

I'm 100% on the side of the sentiment that Coderre's vanity projects need to be panned by the electorate.

I didn't watch the English debate but if Coderre tried to smear Plante as anti-semitic,he can go fuck himself. Although I had no intention of voting for him anyway. It was a low blow and I agree,I think Coderre thinks MTL's anglo community is Jewish or at least mostly so. What an idiot.

It will be refreshing to have a woman as mayor. Plante has my support hook line and sinker. I was elated to hear the news that she and Coderre are in a statistical tie. 21% are undecided. I can only hope a majority of these potential voters hate that dipshit Coderre as much as I or at least hate the millions of dollars he has wasted on pet projects and itching on wasting a billion more on a baseball team no one is interested in.

I don't generally vote in municipal elections but this time I can't help myself but to do so. I hope others like myself feel inspired to vote this time around too.

We still have to be careful about that, as Coderre's voters tend to be older and older voters tend to vote more. (I'm over 55, but of course I find Plante veering a bit too "moderate"). I did vote for her.

Coderre is using smears such as the supposed hatred for Luc Ferrandez (actually very popular in his borough, and he has corrected some early errors on such matters as snow clearance - hey Luc, it isn't only for cars; pedestrians, especially elderly and disabled ones, can't get out in lots of ice). And insinuating that Plante's only contacts are with Québec solidaire - classic "red-baiting", and of course Plante talks to QS as she lives in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie (Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois' riding) and is a council member for Sainte-Marie, which is in Manon Massé's riding. However Louise Harel, a classic "left" péquiste as well as some Liberal Party faithful have also supported her, including candidates from Coalition Montréal.

He is doubling down on the "attack dog" stance and I don't think that will help him. Hope not. We need new métro lines and social housing.

Coderre attacking Plante through Ferandez and the QS shows he's worried and desperate, which is a good sign, his internal polling is likely showing the same results as the public ones. He wasn't doing this early in the campaign because he was sure he was going to win so he didn't need to, now that is no longer the case so he's bringing up irrelevant things.

Plante stands for specific positions and projects that she has been pushing for the past few months, I still don't know anything that Coderre is running his campaign on.

If Coderre loses I think he'll run in the provincial election next year, he won't stay as opposition leader.

Actually, Valérie Plante is a member of the Broadbent Institute, so probably closer to the NDP than Québec solidaire. That said, it is an open secret that those three 'progressive" parties work on each other's campaigns and don't waste their campaigning time on their disagreements. But that is mostly relevant in the area where I live, a bit north and east of the downtown business district. A friend with a bicycle repair shop (also selling refurbished cycles) has lent his sturdy 'fatbikes' to all three campaigns.

The northeast of Mtl, seen as a racialized ghetto, has been neglected in terms of transports and other amenities for decades. This can really work against Coderre because he actually lives in and represents Montréal-Nord, but in the portion that is mostly somewhat upscale single-family homes. There is a CÉGEP in the borough with a high proportion of Haitian and other racialized students, many of them young women training for better jobs in the health sector (a bit of a stereotype, but they are often the children of nurses' aides and orderlies aiming for professional employment in the same sector). The commute to the new superhospitals is over an hour long, and it isn't much shorter if they buy a car. Looking on a map, it isn't actually very far if there is a métro line. It is so much easier to travel between areas in Mtl and Laval than to Mtl-Nord, which is on the island.

While extending the blue line (towards Anjou, from Jean-Talon métro) will do nothing to solve the congestion on the orange line into the downtown area, it is absurd not to have immediately extended the line to Pie-IX, a very important transport axis. This would have also revitalized the area at the boundary of Saint-Michel and Saint-Léonard, and facilitated commutes along Pie-IX.

One station more eastwards to Viau would have made life far easier for workers and ambulatory patients at the Institut cardiologique (Heart Institute).

How is this for DISGUSTING? Gilles Duceppe once claimed to be a progressive. Today he gratuitously endorsed Denis Coderre (the arch-federalist rightwinger) for mayor. Duceppe is such a disgrace to humanity

How is this for DISGUSTING? Gilles Duceppe once claimed to be a progressive. Today he gratuitously endorsed Denis Coderre (the arch-federalist rightwinger) for mayor. Duceppe is such a disgrace to humanity

It's beginning to look as though the BQ/PQ and the CAQ are now competing to see which one will turn into "Nouveau Parti de l'Union Nationale".

I see campaign promises as aspirational. We all know the funding for the pink line isn't actually in place and we also know there is a lot of infrastructure money up for grabs so it's plausible.

Dennis Coderre made a mistake bragging about his connections. Smells way too much like corruption. Connections is exactly what people don't want. He has also shown off his arrogance and said he has no intention of changing. His mocking of Plante doesn't play well at all. Women do not like to see women mocked and Plante is very likeable.

I'm voting for Plante as a person who shares more values with me than Coderre does. The one thing I have a problem with is her desire to lift the ban on pit bulls. I don't think she can do it without council support though and I think she will be hard put to get it. Public sentiment is strongly in favor of the ban.

The provincial government has already or will soon pass their own pitbull ban making Plante's promise moot, because even if she repeals the by-law the provincial law will still be in place and superceed anything she enacts on the issue.

CJAD is on a lot where I work and if the election will truly be decided by anglo/allophones, then Coderre is done. They've been trashing Coderre for the last 4 years (and frequently have Projet Montreal people like Sterling Downie on panels) and it has noticibly trickled down to the people (also the reason the CAQ has gotten more popular among Anglophones). CJAD/Montreal Gazette has a huge influence on Anglo opinion because at this point that is the anglophone news media, its so concentrated. I just wish the Montreal Star could make a comeback, but given the decline of the English community in Quebec it'll never happen.

I'm just thankful Tommy Schnurmacher is pretty much retired, just that alone shifts anglo opinion to the center.

CJAD is far more journalistic back when I was much younger. I tuned them out back during the Ricky Cyr days. And the Gazette is probably pushing CAQ (who apparently are in majority territory for 2018) CTV MTL is... Although CTV has been cheerleading Coderre. The Gazette is generally pro-Liberal but that ebbs and flows every couple of years.

I wish Tommy Buttsmacker would retire.. The minimal the better. Aaron Rand is supposedly an asshole...I wonder where Leslie Roberts leans.

French media is not much better... Le Journal is a rag. I haven't turned on the radio in 10 or 15 years so I can't judge French talk radio.

It is sad if Anglos are so clueless that they'd actually be influenced by CJAD or any local anglo media that's embarrassing. Waaaay too slanted.

Well, certainly promises like "Together we will build a better Canada" are aspirational.

But a promise like "If elected, we will immediately pass a bill to guarantee health care coverage for temporary workers" isn't aspirational. It's pretty specific.

We shouldn't allow politicians to "forget" their specific promises just because reality (which their opponents are typically glad to remind them of) "suddenly" made pies-in-the-sky impossible for them.

Well, certainly promises like "Together we will build a better Canada" are aspirational.

But a promise like "If elected, we will immediately pass a bill to guarantee health care coverage for temporary workers" isn't aspirational. It's pretty specific.

We shouldn't allow politicians to "forget" their specific promises just because reality (which their opponents are typically glad to remind them of) "suddenly" made pies-in-the-sky impossible for them.

Plante's central issue is the Pink subway line but to do it she will have to secure the funding. If elected she may not be able to do as many stops as she is "promising" or do it within her budget. I hope it does happen but if it doesn't I will judge her based on what she has accomplished during her 4 year tenure not on the lack of the Pink Line.

How is this for DISGUSTING? Gilles Duceppe once claimed to be a progressive. Today he gratuitously endorsed Denis Coderre (the arch-federalist rightwinger) for mayor. Duceppe is such a disgrace to humanity

I guess it proves what they say about politics making strange bedfellows.

That's why people are so cynical about the political class. I am hoping Coderre's bragging about his connections will do him in. The first thing that came into my mind was that's how corruption works. Part of Plante's appeal is that she is a relative outsider.

I guess it proves what they say about politics making strange bedfellows.

If Richard Bergeron joined Coderre's team, why not Gilles Duceppe? These characters have no principles and no connection to any real-life movement of real people. The important question is whether anyone else does. I'm hopeful about Projet Montréal. They survived Bergeron's betrayal, and they're involved in communities. That puts them light years ahead.

They have people now who are far more grounded than Bergeron. I'm hoping Projet will take Villeray-St-Michel-Parc-Ex, where I used to live and just north of my current borough, RPP. The mayoral candidate is Giuliana Fumagalli, a labour (postal worker) and community (tenants' association) activist. https://www.facebook.com/GiulianaFumagalliVSMPE/ Do hope she can oust Annie Samson, who played a very negative role with regard to the plan to convert the abandoned Hôpital Chinois into a centre where Inuit people from Nunavik could reside while receiving medical care "down south".

Now Bergeron is calling Projet "extreme left" and Duceppe is saying that it is an extension of Québec solidaire. If only!

I never made it through Bergeron's "Livre noir de l'automobile", despite my commitment to ending carcentric development. It is a poorly-edited rant; far better books have been written on developing transport and planning alternatives (here, Mary Soderstrom has made some interesting contributions on pedestrian-centred planning). He also said some downright reactionary things about itinerants. One thing I do agree with him on though is the need to bring back trams - modern ones, which are pretty much universally accessible and which are in use successfully in snowy northern places such as Finland. Trams have a carrying capacity between fleets of buses and metros/subways/lrcs. But they need to have the right of way, not get stuck in traffic as is too often the case in Toronto.

I always vote for the person not the party but there is always an exception to the rule. I voted for Projet Montreal not Richard Bergeron in 2013. I have high hopes he will lose his seat as he so richly deserves.

"More grounded" is a great description. In my opinion that is what people want not politicians with "connections" and definitely not sell-outs. Does Projet have a chance of taking his seat?

By the way, there was a very good turnout at my polling station, which was packed. We had to wait on average 15-20 minutes to vote. There were quite a few people with small kids. This is a sign of a Millennial vote which should auger well for Project Montreal.

CJAD is far more journalistic back when I was much younger. I tuned them out back during the Ricky Cyr days. And the Gazette is probably pushing CAQ (who apparently are in majority territory for 2018) CTV MTL is... Although CTV has been cheerleading Coderre. The Gazette is generally pro-Liberal but that ebbs and flows every couple of years.

I wish Tommy Buttsmacker would retire.. The minimal the better. Aaron Rand is supposedly an asshole...I wonder where Leslie Roberts leans.

French media is not much better... Le Journal is a rag. I haven't turned on the radio in 10 or 15 years so I can't judge French talk radio.

It is sad if Anglos are so clueless that they'd actually be influenced by CJAD or any local anglo media that's embarrassing. Waaaay too slanted.

The sense I get is that older anglos are very influenced by CJAD, though not the younger people who tend to be a lot more progressive and less tied to the traditional anglo groupthink.

This is likely not only true of anglos though, probably the same when it comes to francophones and the influence of stuff like the Journal de Montreal.

The sense I get is that older anglos are very influenced by CJAD, though not the younger people who tend to be a lot more progressive and less tied to the traditional anglo groupthink.

This is likely not only true of anglos though, probably the same when it comes to francophones and the influence of stuff like the Journal de Montreal.

Well,CJAD has always been the 'old people' radio for anglophones (and allophones). I remember the competition back when Galganov was given a soap box to spew his horseshit. I'm glad he's gone just as I'll be happier when Schnurmackle retires. Who will take his place is another matter.

Younger people generally are more progressive than their parents but don't let that fool you. There are still Reaganites slithering,relics from generations frozen back 30 years behind the rest of the world. It's really a pity.

The last time I ever listened to CJAD was when that guy Rick Peterson? I think that's what his name is. Anyway is top de jour was cannabis and he patrionizingly hung the phone up to say in the most stereotypical cheezy radio voice...' Well,I respectfully disagree with you. That was MY generation and the world has changed since I was young.. (yuck,yuck,yuck)...something in the vain that it's ' not the marijuana WE grew up with' Piss the fuck off. Anyway I digress....I should have quit the day I got through both a Cyr and Shlurmacher show without break and stopping myself from puking. I remember Cyr's topic of the day was pro cut the vocal chords of all dogs in the city because their barking was ' annoying' Tried to counter his point,censored from the show...OK I'm stopping.

If the younger generation is more progressive they should vote en masse EVERY election. It's those older folks who make it to the polls.

I voted around 4PM and I didn't have to wait although there were people going in and out steadily. CBC TV says they will cover on TV from 11 to 11:30 but online and radio starts at 8 and facebook at 10.